Three's Legacy
by Number Eleven
Summary: They killed Three in Kenya...or so everyone thought.
1. Prologue

**I would really appreciate it if people could leave a review. This is my first story that I've posted and I would really like some feedback**

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><p><strong>Prologue<strong>

Everyone knows John Smith, the terrorist on the run in America. But I know who he really is, that he's one of us nine Loric.

Or at least there were nine. They killed Numbers One and Two. And they tried to kill Three. This is my story.

I am Number Three...or at least half of him.

**_Ϟ_**

My first legacy came when I was thirteen. Cason, my Cêpan, and I had moved to east Mexico a month earlier and I'd been walking along the Gulf coast when I felt a a small pinch on the back of my hand. I'd looked to see what it was and there, sitting on my nuckles, was a small brown spider with long legs. I'd hastily shaken it off and sprinted back to our rented apartment, panic racing through me. When I burst through the door Cason had jumped, running towards me.

"Whats wrong?" he'd demanded.

I'd stuck out my hand for him to see and he had examined it closely.

"There's nothing there." he'd said softly.

Confused, I'd turned my hand every which way, looking for a red mark to show where the bite had been.

"Something bit me," I said, my confusion lacing the words.

Cason had returned to his seat in front of his silver laptop, "What did it look like?"

I'd described the spider to him and he'd looked it up. It turned out to be a brown recluse, Mexico's most venomous spider. I'd panicked. Tears had started to gather in my eyes. I was going to die because of some dumb spider.

Cason had immediatly rushed me to the nearest hospital, only when the doctor looked at it, there was nothing there. There was nothing in my blood to even suggest that venom was coursing through me. He called it a miracle. Cason had called it my legacy.

"I'm immune to poison?" I'd asked on the ride home.

Cason nodded, a large grin on his face. "It was a legacy possesed by your father."

My second legacy, enhancement, had developed two weeks later. That was over a year ago.

My third legacy came yesterday, and that night-the Mogadorians finally caught up to me.

_**Ϟ**_


	2. Chapter One

**Chapter One**

A warm wind blows across my face, doing little to repress the summer heat. I look behind me at the house. I've gotten used to it, it'll be sad when we move again. In front of me, the wind makes the long green grass sway. The grass is greener in our region compared to some others.

I head back inside for a glass of water, letting the screen door bang shut behind me. Cason is on his laptop, like always.

"Get me a glass too, please" he says, not even looking up. I fill up two glasses of water and walk over to him, holding the glass out to him. He takes it and I freeze. Noticing, Cason looks up. I stare at my hand. There, held up by my fingers, is the glass of water that I gave to Cason. The glass that he now sets down.

"I only got two glasses, not three" I say.

Cason jumps up and races out of the room; I can hear him rumaging around. I begin to feel an excitement. _Another legacy._

"Three, come help me!" I hear from the other room. I set the glasses of water on the table and hurry to where he's at.

He's sitting on the floor, my Chest at his knees. His hand is already around the lock and I wrap my around it as well. I hear the small _click_ almost instantly. Cason throws it open and slips his hand inside. A second later his hand reapears and he closes the Chest. He holds his hand out to me, a smooth black stone resting in his palm. I take it, feeling it's rounded edge as I turn it over in my hands. It's not very big, a bit smaller than my palm, and it seems to radiate with cold.

"What is it?" I ask.

"It's a Counter Stone. It will counter everything that you do. Legacy-wise anyway. And only if you're holding it at the time." he explains.

"You mean that it'll stop everything I do?"

"Yes, you could say that."

"Then what's the point? I don't think I'll want to stop using my legacies all of a sudden."

"You don't use it for all of you legacies, just Duplication."

That would explain why he only now gave it to me.

Duplication. The word runs itself through my mind. _My legacy is Duplication._ I feel like jumping with all of my excitement.

"Duplicating can be dangerous, and this stone will help you from using that."

"How will it be dangerous?" I ask.

"Well, it all depends on what you doubling. You see, when you duplicate an object, you take half of that object's being and give it to the copy-this way they are the exact same. If you do that with a living thing, you take half of its life for the duplicate. This leaves the object more fragile and weak."

"Is there a way to combine both copies?"

Cason nodds, "Yes, but only a duplicator-like you, can do it."

"What if one copy is dead, will the other die too?"

"No, both beings are their own now, its just that the copy will have no way of reuniting with its other half," Cason must see the questing forming on my lips because he continues, "A being can live with only half of its soul, but if the other half is filled with death then the thing will die immediatly; the death would suck the remaining life until there is none left."

Cason stands, "I'm going to get you somethings so you can start practicing." Then he leaves me, the stone spreading a numbing chill in my hand.


	3. Chapter One Part 2

**Chapter One-Part 2**

I stretch my hand out at the leaf, willing it to separate into two. It does nothing-again. I feel like screaming with my frustration. I have been trying to work my legacy for the past hour, with the only result being two identical gray stones, and two blades of grass. Cason, sitting on a chair to my left, sighs.

"It could take awhile for it to fully mature. It may have been just an accident what you did today with the glass, not even thinking about it. Maybe you're thinking too hard. Give it a break for a bit. Some legacies just need a spur of action to kick into gear." He gets up and leaves me on the porch.

Takes a while for it to fully mature.

Unfortunately, I don't have a while. The Mogadorians are coming for me. I know they are. I have the scars from One and Two to prove it. I just don't know when they'll find me, and I need all the legacies I have to help me fight them off, to run away, or to get together with the other six remaining Garde.

I look at the trees in front of me. They are big, having lived here far longer than the nearby residents. I breathe deeply and try to focus. I look at the tree, imagine it separating into two identical trees, imagine the roots of the new tree digging into the earth. I blink, and when I open my eyes there is now one tree more than there used to be. I smile, a happiness flooding through me. Cason comes back out but doesn't notice the new tree. I don't say anything. Instead, I stand up and head into the trees.

"Careful!" Cason warns. But I already know, I've heard that phrase about a million times before in my life.

The forest feels different than it usually does, almost as if the trees can feel some dread that humans, and loric, can't feel. The sun that was up earlier has disappeared, replaced with an ever-darkening sky and a wind that has turned ice-cold.

After reaching a mile into the trees, I turn around to head back.

That's when a foreboding chill runs up my spine.

I sprint back to the house, fearful that something might have happened to Cason while I was gone.

He's standing on the porch, and as soon as he sees me coming out of the trees Cason's face relaxes in relief.

"Thank goodness you're back, I was afraid something had happened. You were gone longer than usual."

I pretend that I don't hear the accusation in his tone, "I decided to go farther into the trees than usual."

He shakes his head and motions for me to come in the house. I don't argue. Inside, he hands me a plate of hot food and a cup of water. Curious, I focus on it. Sure enough, I see a faint wisp like image slide out of the plate and a moment later, my other hand is holding a plate exactly like the original. Cason smiles, "Now taste it."

I do, and am surprised that what I know to taste good, now has a dullness to it. Cason laughs at my surprise.

"You took half of the food's energy and taste to put it in the duplicate. So the taste of one is now divided into two. And along with that, the place where you split the energy is somewhat crooked-since you're new to it. But don't worry, you'll get the hang of it soon, and by next year, I'm sure your food will taste better."

By now the sky has darkened, so Cason and I clean up for the night. We don't talk much, which is fine by me because I need some time to think over everything that's happened. But lying there in the dark house, just before I lose consciousness, I have that same feeling that I experienced in the woods. One that promises nothing good.


	4. Chapter Two

_Sorry for the long wait everyone! Here is Chapter 2, hope you like it!_

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><p><strong>Chapter Two<strong>

My eyes snap open, fixated on the ceiling above me. I blink, confused at what woke me. Then I hear it, or rather, the lack of it. The wind has dropped. I frown, wondering why that should have bothered me enough to wake me. Perhaps being on the run for the last 14 years had tuned my senses. I shrug and rest my head back on my pillow, closing my eyes. But something is still wrong, and now little warning bells are going off in my head.

I hear a rustle from across the room and sit up slowly to see that Cason is up. He has a knife in his hand and moves silently to the door, peering through the shades. I watch him intently, my heart pounding in my chest. After what seems like an eternity, Cason moves away from the door, shrugging. I let out a sigh of relief, glad to know that today won't be my last day. That the Mogadorians hadn't caught up with me yet.

Then, suddenly, chaos erupts. The wall behind Cason seems to explode and arms grab him around the middle and drag him back. I don't hesitate. I dive out the window and run.

Cason and I had gone over all of this before, more than once. If the Mogadorians caught us, I was to run away. Run as far and as fast as I could. I was not to look back. I was not supposed to try to help Cason.

All of this had been drilled into me so that it became instinctive. Now, as I run, I feel a pang of guilt and pain. Cason had been my mentor, and was like a father figure to me. But I push those thoughts aside. There will be time for them later.

If there is a later.

I will myself to a greater speed. Trees blur past me in the darkness. Sensing rather than seeing, I jump over a faller log and keep going, never breaking my stride. Behind me, I hear a crashing sound and fear jolts through me.

They're catching up. Fast.

Ahead of me I see the faint line of the chasm and prepare myself. For an ordinary human, the jump would be impossible. But for me, it's like stepping over an unusually large puddle.

As I hit the opposite side I roll with the impact. Then I'm back on my feet and running. Always running. The sound of my feet hitting the ground fills my mind until it's all I can hear, all I can think about. The rhythmic _thud thud thud _have an almost soothing affect. And then, a single thought seems to pierce through to my consciousness. Something that Cason had said the previous day.

_"__Some legacies just need a spur of action to kick into gear."_

And idea forms in my mind and I cling to it desperately, knowing that it's the only thing that might save me. I concentrate hard, willing any distractions out of my head. I know that it would probably be best if I weren't constantly moving, but at the moment, stopping isn't an option. I let my mind relax, focus my thoughts on the task at hand, picture everything clearly in my head, and suddenly, I feel as if someone has just punched me. I gasp, grabbing at my side, thinking it's the Mogadorians. But there's no one behind me, or in front of me. Nobody except myself.

I am staring into the bewildered eyes of my duplicate.

This is the strangest sensation I have ever felt. But my instincts take over once more and I'm running again, my duplicate running a few meters to the right of me. But it's wrong to refer to him as a different person because he is me. I am two people at once. I can feel myself running two different paths, see two different views in front of me, can look across and see me running. There are no words to describe the sensation.

Then I dive into the bushes. At least one of me does. My other half stops and I look around, confused. I must have sensed something wrong to have tried to hide. The forest around me is dead silent. There is no wind, no falling leave, it's as if the entire world is waiting to see what will happen. An uneasy feeling washes over me and involuntarily I take a step forward, towards myself hiding in the undergrowth- and straight into the path of a hand that clenches around my throat. My own hands scrabble to break the iron grip but it's no use, and I find myself looking deep into the soulless eyes of a Mogadorian. He laughs as I choke. From the bushes, I can see that there are another two Mogadorians behind the one who's choking me. They laugh with their leader.

I can now feel strength leaving me. Pain clouds my head and darkness blinds me. In the undergrowth, my body slumps to the ground in defeat. In the Mogadorian's grip I feel myself go limp.

Then I don't feel anything at all.


	5. Chapter Three

**Chapter 3**

"_No Eli, you can't hit a person, that's not nice. Besides, you wouldn't like it if they hit you."_

_Cason stood over the young child, his face stern but not mean. Eli nodded, hanging onto every word that his mentor said. Cason smiled then, and Eli smiled back- reassured that he wasn't in trouble. Cason let the boy run back to the playground, shaking his head slowly. It was amazing how much the four year old looked up to him. _

"_Eli, Eli!"_

_The boy turned to where a little girl stood calling him, a hand pushing her blond curls out of her face. Eli started to make his way towards her when suddenly Cason was there, grabbing his arm._

"_We have to go. Now," He whispered fiercely, and the boy felt himself dragged away from the playground. _

_The girl watched him go, sadness causing tears to swell in her eyes. Eli watched her, his own eyes tearing up a little. And then, slowly, the girl held up a hand, all five fingers raised. As he watched, the confusion plain on his face, she said one word and Eli had to strain his ears to hear it._

"_Five." _

Ϟ Ϟ

I bolt upright into a sitting position. Then wish I hadn't. The sudden movement sends black spots dancing before my eyes and I wait for them to clear. I realize that I am sitting on the ground, the dappled sunlight streaming through the foliage above me having already warmed the soft earth. In the trees I can hear the birds singing to each other and I smile.

Then I remember.

I stand up slowly, using the bush I hid behind last night to support me. Then I freeze.

There, just beyond the shelter of my bush, is me. My body is crumpled on the dirt and my eyes are glazed over. Red and purple marks are evident on my throat and my fingers are curled around an invisible hand. I can feel bile rise up my throat. The sunny scenery around me seems grotesquely out of place.

I am suddenly aware of a dull ache in my chest. The kind that I read people get when they miss someone. I suppose that makes sense, seeing at I am literally missing me.

I stumble away from my body, although I don't need it there to see it. The image is engraved permanently into my brain. My breath is coming in raged gasps and there is only one thought in my head.

I am dead.

_No_, I hear a small voice whisper in my mind_, you're not entirely dead. You are half alive._

I frown. Surprisingly, that isn't the most reassuring thing I've ever heard.

I start to run. Not in any particular direction, just away from my dead self. But as I run, I notice something is different, though I can't place what it is.

After ten minutes of continuous running I remember the Chest. The one thing in the world that can show me more about myself. I abruptly turn to the general direction of the house; already the dread of seeing the destruction overwhelms me. The Mogadorians would have looked for it, tearing the house apart. But Cason had buried it in the forest just before we had gone to sleep last night. He hadn't told me why, just shown the site to me. With a cold shiver I realize that he must have had a premonition of the events to come.

As I near the house I slow down. Already I can see the ruins through the trees. But I don't get close, I don't have to. The Chest is buried under a thick tree, it's roots showing above ground. I drop to my knees and started digging with my hands, panic creeping up on me. What if this was the wrong place and I forgot? What if something gets me before I can reach it?

Luckily, my fingers brush metal almost as soon as I start. I clear the dirt around the perimeter of the Chest and lift it out. It isn't heavy, but it isn't light either. Setting the chest aside I push the dirt back into the hole and patt it down-it doesn't hurt to be cautious. Then I start to run again. It suddenly strikes me that in the last 24 hours I've done almost nothing but run. The thought just makes me smile and I wonder if I'm going insane.

I frown. There's something different, I can feel it. I just can't place what it is.

Beside me on either side, the trees flash by in a brilliant golden green, their trunks glistening with morning dew that has yet to evaporate. I catch a glimpse of a bright red bird sitting on a long branch.

Suddenly I stop. My blood runs cold as I realize what it is that is wrong. I saw the dew on the trees, the bird on the branch. I've never been able to make out that much detail when I've run. Everything would pass me in a blur because I could run so fast. So if I can see details, that means I'm running slower.

I remember Cason's words and feel like I've been stabbed. My powers have been divided.


End file.
